I don’t care for sports in general and have zero interest in soccer in particular. So, if those parts of the book bother you, you might want to steer clear. However, there is plenty of off-field drama to engage those who like to read about young love.
Zack is playing a rather tricky game…and I don’t mean soccer. He’s taken the fall for Ryan, a teammate he idolizes, and his soccer teammates are baffled and upset about his seeming deviation from honest behavior. He’s got issues with another teammate, Noel, who has rightly guessed who’s behind a prank involving a dead shark. Zack is also dealing with his parents’s divorce. All this while trying to win the affections of a head intern named Chip Cannon.
Zack’s efforts lead him into silly lies and even sillier hijinks. It takes quite a while for him to face his own foolishness and make things right with his friends, family and teammates. It’s a little hard to believe that a high schooler could make eloquent speeches that set things square. (When Ronald Weasley offends Harry in one of the Harry Potter books, he doesn’t apologize. He just makes a strange grimace and a vague gesture with his hand. THAT is the kind of behavior you’d expect from inarticulate adolescent males who’ve screwed up somehow.)
But Zack manages to settle matters. His life doesn’t become perfect and Chip is reluctant to declare that he’s a “boyfriend” rather than a “friend”. But there is a kind of happy ending. It leaves you with a smile on your face and a satisfactory glow. Go, team.
Zack is playing a rather tricky game…and I don’t mean soccer. He’s taken the fall for Ryan, a teammate he idolizes, and his soccer teammates are baffled and upset about his seeming deviation from honest behavior. He’s got issues with another teammate, Noel, who has rightly guessed who’s behind a prank involving a dead shark. Zack is also dealing with his parents’s divorce. All this while trying to win the affections of a head intern named Chip Cannon.
Zack’s efforts lead him into silly lies and even sillier hijinks. It takes quite a while for him to face his own foolishness and make things right with his friends, family and teammates. It’s a little hard to believe that a high schooler could make eloquent speeches that set things square. (When Ronald Weasley offends Harry in one of the Harry Potter books, he doesn’t apologize. He just makes a strange grimace and a vague gesture with his hand. THAT is the kind of behavior you’d expect from inarticulate adolescent males who’ve screwed up somehow.)
But Zack manages to settle matters. His life doesn’t become perfect and Chip is reluctant to declare that he’s a “boyfriend” rather than a “friend”. But there is a kind of happy ending. It leaves you with a smile on your face and a satisfactory glow. Go, team.